Ice Cream Sandwich Cake

Summer is ebbing away.  I know we'd barely know it, but it is.

We ate this when we visited the farm.  It was really yummy, but tragically, I forgot to stick it back in the freezer and it was lost!  Ah well, who needs the calories?

Ice Cream sandwich Cake
adapted from my sister in law


Ingredients
19 ice cream sandwiches
1 jar (16 ounces) hot fudge or caramel topping
3 Heath candy bars, or chopped reese's peanut butter cups, or m and m's, or reese pieces
1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions
Cut one ice cream sandwich in half. Place one whole and one half sandwich along a short side of an ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. dish. Arrange eight sandwiches in opposite direction in the dish. Remove lid from fudge/caramel topping. Microwave 15-30 seconds to warm; stir. Spread one-half of fudge topping/caramel over ice cream sandwiches.

In a food processor, chop candy bars. Cover and pulse until chopped. Sprinkle one-half of mixture over fudge layer. Repeat layer of ice cream sandwiches and fudge/caramel topping. Spread whipped topping over top of cake. Sprinkle with remaining peanut mixture.

Cover and freeze for up to 2 months. Remove from the freezer 20 minutes before serving. Cut into squares.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Sugar Free "Ice Cream"

Meet our new obsession.  No refined sugar, no dairy.   But sweet, creamy, and chocolatey.  The kids love it, and are completely fooled.  I am excited to make these into "fudgesicles."  True, it doesn't hold much of a candle to true homemade ice cream, but given how healthy it is, it is completely satisfying.  Good enough to have every night.

Not that I'd know that from personal experience.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Frozen Treat
Adapted from Sugar Free Mom


2 ripe bananas, preferably brown spotted
2 tablespoons peanut butter, all natural, no added sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder, unsweetened

Using a food processor, place the bananas in and let it go until you start seeing that is becoming very smooth, no lumps.
Add the peanut butter and continue to process until smooth again. Then add the cocoa and process again, taste and decide if you need any stevia.
Pour it into a serving dish and place it back in the freezer for 60 minutes.
Eat up!!!

Chocolate Blueberry ice cream

I know what you're thinking.  I promise the blueberry is delicious!   I love Dorie Greenspan's description in this recipe- she talks about how she stopped dating a man who had chocolate ice cream on his blueberry pie.  Perfectly reasonable.  : )  

The blueberry somehow maintains it integrity while adding a depth of flavor to the chocolate ice cream part.  

Unbelievably Good Chocolate Blueberry Ice Cream

adapted from Baking: From my home to yours

140g (5 oz) milk chocolate

250ml (1 cup) whole milk

125ml (½ cup) heavy cream

3 large egg yolk

3 tbsps sugar

5 tbsps blueberry preserves

Add chocolate to a 1-quart glass measuring cup.

Bring milk and cream to a boil in a medium saucepan.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk the yolks and sugar together until very well blended and just slightly thickened.

Still whisking, drizzle in about ⅓ of the hot liquid—this will twarm the yolks so they don’t curdle and become scrambled eggs.

Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remaining liquid.

Pour the custard back into the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring non stop, until the custard thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon.  If you run your finger down the bowl of the spoon, the custard should not run back into itself (this will be 170-179 degrees).

Remove pan from the heat and pour the custard over the chopped chocolate.

Let the mixture sit for 1 minute, then  stir until the custard is smooth.

Refrigerate the custard until chilled before churning it into ice cream.

Scrape the chilled custard into the bowl of an ice cream maker; churn according to manufacturer’s directions.

When the ice cream is thickened and just about ready, spoon in the blueberry preserves and churn to blend.

Pack the ice cream into a container and freeze it until it is firm enough to scoop.

Cake Batter Ice Cream

We were in florida and my son and daughter were introduced to Marble Slab.  They loved it!  This was also the first time for cake batter, or birthday cake, ice cream.   I've been eyeing this on Annie's Eats for a while, but I knew I'd have to stick with David Lebovitz's ice cream recipe.  I mean seriously, I got The Perfect Scoop from the library this summer, and every recipe was perfect.  And he even has recipes for homemade mix ins like brownies, cookie dough, chocolate swirl.  It's a perfect book.  Perfect.  Why haven't I bought it yet?  As soon as the weather warms up, I will.  I digress.

This ice cream is custard based, which is a good match for the yellow cake mix.  It's very rich, very creamy, and a little goes a long way.

There are a couple quirky things about this recipe-

Why use vodka?    Well, to sum it up, this basically keeps it from freezing fully and being too hard.

Are you really using a cake mix???   Yes.  Yes, I am.  If this offends your moral sensibilities, I would go here.  (p.s. the aforementioned link is not to hades, it's to I am Baker's cake mix!)

adapted mainly from David Lebovitz
and inspired by Annie's Eats

Ingredients:

1 cup (250ml) whole milk

A pinch of salt

3/4 cup (150g) sugar

2 cups (500ml) heavy cream

5 large egg yolks

1/2 cup cake batter prepared mix

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1-2 tablespoons vodka

1. Heat the milk, salt, egg yolks, and sugar in a saucepan.  Stir constantly until thickened enough to coat the back of a spatula.  Add the eggs first before heating or you will have scrambled eggs!  Set a strainer over the top of the smaller bowl and pour the cream into the bowl.

2. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

3. Strain the custard. Whisk in the cake mix.  Stir the bowl over another bowl filled with ice until cool, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly, preferably overnight.

4. Add the vodka and vanilla extract, and freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.